The Tesla Effect

How the way we think about automobiles & energy is changing

By

Tzen Szen

on August 19, 2015 3.25pm

---

I haven't always been particularly interested in automobiles. Sure, I thought certain cars were quite interesting as they stood out more than others because they were faster, more exclusive, or simply looked better and I always do enjoy an adrenaline-rush whenever I had the rare opportunity to have a ride in a sports car. After Tesla Motors rolled out the Tesla Model S to their customers, that quickly changed.

Model S is Tesla's all-electric sedan and is the second vehicle released by the company with the first being the Tesla Roadster. Tesla's corporate strategy uses 3 stages to fund a new car type through the sales of the previous models. The first stage was making the Tesla Roadster high price but low volume. Model S is the second in the 3 stages with mid price and mid volume. The third stage will be low price but high volume in the form of Model 3, which was announced in July last year. So, what exactly makes Tesla Motors and their products so unique?

For me, it really is about how a group of engineers from Silicon Valley wanted to show that electric cars can be as be as good, if not better than the conventional gasoline/petroleum-powered cars. Take a look at electric cars before the rise of Tesla. Other, more established automakers have been developing and building electric cars for quite some time. Have a look at most of them and you'll soon realise how each car might have something compromised like the speed, range, design, or some combination of the 3.

Model S represented what other electric cars did not

I was highly impressed with what I saw when the Tesla Model S was delivered to customers in mid-2012. Apart from the delays in deliveries and the struggle to keep up with the orders, Model S represented what other electric cars did not. It is a beautifully designed car (both inside and outside) with exceptional range, power, efficiency, and speed.

Model S can be associated with fine wine; the car arguably does improve with time. Tesla updates its cars through over-the-air (OTA) software updates just like how smartphones get their software updated. It started off with an acceleration of 0-60 mph in 5.6 seconds but Model S is now in supercar territory with an acceleration of 0-60 mph in 2.8 seconds on the Model S P85D in "Ludicrous Mode". Autopilot mode was also a new feature that was introduced through an OTA software update which allowed the car to steer and park by itself.

"Ludicrous Mode" = 0-60 mph in 2.8 seconds

The "Tesla Effect" is what I dub as the effect that Tesla Motors is having on the automobile and energy industries. Tesla isn't a conventional automobile company and I am quite sure they don't intend to be one. Being also an energy and technology company, they are constantly pushing the boundaries of their pursuits, from having their cars recharge much faster than others on the market to ever-expanding Supercharger network around the world and even having me excited about batteries in the form of the Powerwall.

Perhaps their most astonishing move was when their current CEO, Elon Musk, announced that they were opening all their patents and were in favour in going open-source in this blog post. It actually shows how serious they are in pushing the industry towards sustainable transport by getting other, more seasoned automakers on board with the whole, "electric cars don't have to suck" mantra. Yes, the 70 kWh base version of the Model S in the single motor version at $70,000 is still above the budget of what most people would pay for a car but with the release of Model 3 in the next few years at around $35,000 to $40,000, we can all hope to see that great, self-sustaining electric vehicles will soon be the norm.

Explained: Moonshots

The grey space between sci-fi and radical technology

By

Tzen Szen

on August 7, 2015 1.25pm

---

Back in September 12th 1962, U.S. President John F. Kennedy delivered what is known to be the "We choose to go to the Moon" speech before a crowd of 35,000 people in Houston, Texas. Fast forward 7 years later, the Apollo 11 mission succeeded in landing a man to the moon and returning him safely back to Earth. These series of events changed the world and not only marks the first ever landing of man on the moon but also the birth of the word "moonshot".

Enter 2015, the term is used by search giant, Google, albeit rather differently as they use it to describe to their many audacious projects that notably include Google Glass, Project Loon, special contact lenses that detect blood sugar levels and self-driving cars. These moonshots are given birth in a special division of Google called Google[x], their so-called "Moonshot Factory". So, what exactly encompasses a moonshot?

A moonshot is essentially made up of 3 things. The first would be a huge problem. To define a huge problem, think about how many people it is currently or potentially affecting people around the world. The more people it affects, the larger the problem. These would include the global energy crisis, healthcare inequalities, finding better ways to diagnose and treat cancer, and climate change.

Huge problem + radical solution + breakthrough technology = Moonshot

The second component of a moonshot is a radical solution that stands on the edge of science fiction. For example, the number of road traffic accidents that occur annually are staggering. Some solutions are to educate drivers better about road safety, having better road conditions, etc. but although they are considered solutions, they aren't considered radical solutions seeing that there are still many accidents that happen everyday. Since most accidents are caused by human error, why don't humans stop driving and let self-driving cars do the job? Well hang on, can we actually build self-driving cars capable of transporting us around safely and efficiently in the first place?

This brings me to the last part of the moonshot equation which is breakthrough technology that ties everything together. The importance of this breakthrough technology or scientific reason is to ensure that it is not completely insane to go and try to solve that problem. Coming back to the car, there are sensors and software now available that are sophisticated enough for a car to know it's own location, what's around it, to make predictions about it's environment, and what it should do next, just like how a person thinks while driving. Fulfilling these 3 components will then yield a moonshot.

Think 10X

The underlying ethos about moonshots is to think 10X (10 times) instead of 10% to have a chance of really changing things and what I like most about this concept is that it represents a disciplined method of solving the huge problems around us. Using science and technology to bring almost magical solutions to life makes me marvel at what humans have accomplished and can continue accomplishing stemming from the small and personal to the large and audacious.

While the term moonshot is relatively new, the idea of moonshots have been around throughout human history. No one at first really knew how the human body works, how to build an airplane, or if the world was round. What these accomplishments illustrate is the fundamental curiosity and wonder that humans have that pushes humanity forward. When President Kennedy announced that the United States was going to send a man to the moon, the most poetic and beautiful part about the whole thing is the fact that he basically said, "Look, we don't know how to do this yet, but we're gonna do it anyway," and it really does set others on fire because if that really happens, what can't we do?

"Hello, World!"

Introduction to my blog

By

Tzen Szen

on August 5, 2015 1:44pm

---

My name is Tzen Szen, a medical student at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. I often find the 140 characters on Twitter insufficient to express what I want to say. Facebook posts could possibly do the job but what I really wanted was my own space so that I too, could write in great detail about the topics that I am interested in and have an opinion about.

Thus, choosing to use the blogging platform, Blogger, was a straightforward decision. Having seen the templates available by default, I've also decided to strip everything down to the bare minimum and learnt the basics of designing for the web to create this blog which you are viewing today.

My plan is to focus on sharing my personal thoughts and insights about the medical and tech industries. I will be paying some attention to review some products that I currently use and also share my experiences in medical school and studying abroad in the United Kingdom.

Thoughts, insights, and experiences

Whether you are reading this post from a mobile device or personal computer, I hope that the viewing experience will be pleasant across all platforms. Feel free to explore around the blog and do let me know if there is anything that can be improved upon through the comments, email, Twitter, or Facebook. A new post is currently in the works, so stay tuned for what's next!